Scottish Mortgage Exits Tesla After 13 Years, Pivots to AI Agents and SpaceX as Buyback Campaign Intensifies
Published on 07/27/2026 at 13:31 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust has closed the book on one of its longest-running bets. The Baillie Gifford-managed fund fully liquidated its Tesla stake during the second quarter of 2026, ending a 13-year holding period that once made the electric-vehicle maker a cornerstone of the portfolio. The position had already dwindled to less than 1% of assets before managers Tom Slater and Lawrence Burns made the final cut.
The move frees up capital for a portfolio overhaul centered on what the team calls the "agentic era of AI." After riding the first wave of chipmakers and software providers that profited from the artificial intelligence boom, the managers are now targeting companies building autonomous software agents — systems capable of independently handling complex commercial and digital tasks — as well as the surging electricity demand from massive data centers.
SpaceX sits at the heart of this repositioning. Scottish Mortgage has held a stake since 2018, and the management team points to the company's recent initial public offering as a milestone. The Starlink satellite network now serves millions of paying customers globally and has matured into a reliable cash-flow generator, according to the trust's latest commentary.
Buybacks Accelerate as Discount Widens
While the portfolio undergoes its strategic makeover, the trust's board is fighting a separate battle on the stock exchange. Scottish Mortgage has stepped up its share repurchase program in an effort to narrow the persistent gap between its market price and net asset value.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Scottish Mortgage Investment?
On July 22, the trust bought back 500,000 of its own shares at 1,347.49 pence each. Just two days later, on July 24, it repeated the exercise with another 500,000 shares at 1,320.22 pence. Those transactions followed an earlier buyback of more than 2.3 million shares at the start of the month. The trust now holds 411,058,993 shares in treasury, leaving 1,073,721,887 in circulation.
Despite these efforts, the discount has proven stubborn. The latest net asset value stood at 1,464.62 pence per share, while the market price has been trading at a discount of between 9% and 11% during the first half of the year. By Friday's close, the gap had widened to roughly 10.9%, with the NAV at 1,473.69 pence.
Technical Signals Flash Caution
The share price closed at 15.23 euros on Friday, down 0.98% on the day and 5.43% over the past month. The 14-day relative strength index has fallen to 28.7, a level that chart analysts typically interpret as oversold. The stock now sits more than 10% below its 50-day moving average of 16.93 euros.
On a longer view, the picture is less grim. Scottish Mortgage is still up 11.25% year-to-date and has gained 20.97% over the past 12 months. The current price of 15.54 euros, however, remains roughly 20% below the 52-week high of 19.50 euros reached in late May. The RSI on that timeframe stands at 35.6, also approaching oversold territory.
Strong Fundamentals, Stubborn Market
The disconnect between the trust's operational performance and its market valuation is stark. For the fiscal year through March 2026, Scottish Mortgage delivered a total return on a net asset value basis of 27.4%, comfortably outpacing the FTSE All-World Index over the same period. SpaceX remains the largest single holding in the portfolio.
Shareholders have also given the green light for greater flexibility on private investments. The trust can now deploy an additional £250 million into unlisted companies, even if that pushes it beyond the traditional 30% cap on private assets. The rationale is straightforward: management wants to keep backing its most successful private holdings through late-stage funding rounds without being forced to sell ahead of a potential IPO.
The new strategy shifts focus toward companies that can use artificial intelligence to reshape entire industries, with digital financial services and biotechnology taking center stage. The goal, according to the managers, is a portfolio of both public and private companies with long-term growth potential — a bet that will ultimately determine whether the valuation discount narrows in the months ahead.
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